International Dance Day 2018

29th April, 17h00 / Gran Teatro Alicia Alonso / Havana, Cuba

Performances: Twelve - Acosta Danza Coil - Danza Contemporanea de Cuba Ella y él… siempre - Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba Dahomeñó - Folklorico Nacional de Cuba Don Quijote (suite) - Ballet Nacional de Cuba With the presence of:

Africa Salia SANOU, Burkina Faso

Arab countries Georgette GEBARA, Lebanon

Asia Pacific Willy TSAO, Hong Kong, China

Europe Ohad NAHARIN, Israel

The Americas

Marianela BOAN, Cuba 1

Content Welcome to the International Dance Day Celebration 2018

Welcome to the International Dance Day Celebration 2018 3

Welcome Address by the President of the Cuban Centre of ITI 5

Welcome Address by the President of the National Council of 6 Performing Arts in Cuba

Message for International Dance Day Gala by Alicia Alonso 7

UNESCO and ITI 8/9 International Theatre Institute ITI International Dance Committee IDC of ITI International Dance Day World Dance Alliance

Message Authors 10/11

Message Authors 2018 Welcome to the International Dance Day will be aware that the bridge is always a two- Salia SANOU, Burkina Faso 12 Celebration 2018 by Director General and way path. On our bridge, ideas, performances, Message International Dance Day 2018 by Salia SANOU 13 President of ITI humanistic and educational efforts always Georgette GEBARA, Lebanon 14 can travel at all time both ways. This concept Message International Dance Day 2018 by Georgette GEBARA 15 Dear message authors, ladies and gentlemen, of building bridges is not based on the idea Willy TSAO, Hong Kong, China 16 of hegemony. It is founded on the respect for Message International Dance Day 2018 by Willy TSAO 17 ITI is extremely glad and thankful that it is possible the artists and the people on both sides of the Ohad NAHARIN, Israel 18 to celebrate that the main International Dance bridge. When in the past 70 years ITI has followed International Theatre Day celebration here and now. Because with this this concept, it resulted in instances the members Message International Dance Day 2018 by Ohad NAHARIN 19 Institute ITI Marianela BOAN, Cuba 20 UNESCO Office event, ITI can create a bridge between the artists of ITI and the artists involved in it were proud of. Message International Dance Day 2018 by Marianela BOAN 21 UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis and people of Cuba to the artists and people all To intensify our work and increase the awareness 75732 Paris Cedex 15 over the world. for the performing arts, ITI has created two World France Performances Theatre Day and International Dance Day. The main reasons why the International Theatre Twelve 22 International Theatre Coil 23 Institute ITI Institute ITI was created by UNESCO in 1948 In the past, for both days ITI selected one Ella y él… siempre 24 ITI Headquarters was to help UNESCO to build a bridge between important person to write a message. For this 1332 Xinzha Road, Jing´an DAHOMEÑÓ 25 performing artists and people all over the world. year it was decided that there will be five message Shanghai, China 200040 The key words are mutual understanding and authors, one for each of the five UNESCO regions. Don Quixote (Suite) 26 Tel: +86 21 6236 7033 Fax: +86 21 6236 3053 peace. The symbol of the bridge was wisely For Dance Day ITI asked five extraordinary artists chosen: If you observe the traffic on a bridge you and educators to share their thoughts with the Beijing Lv Dong Wu Xian Culture & Communication Co. 27 [email protected] www.iti-worldwide.org

2 3 Welcome Address by the President of the Cuban Centre of ITI

dancers, choreographers, dance professionals And now let´s celebrate International Dance and amateurs, all over the world. It should show Day with the dance productions and some wise that there are no boarders for dance and that words that have been created for this day. artists should be at the vanguard of the people for creating mutual understanding and peace in Muchas gracias this world.

70 years ago, when ITI was created the peoples just experienced the atrocities of the worst war Mohamed Saif Al-Afkham Tobias Biancone of this earth. The people and the world needed President ITI Director General ITI bridging and healing forces such as UNESCO and ITI. Today, there are still wars, hidden and apparent wars, which make the world and people suffer. For a better world that is what ITI is aiming for since its beginning and even today, with its more than 90 Centres all over the world.

From ITI´s viewpoint, people and the world do Welcome Address by the President of the We would also wish to thank the Cuban not need sanctions but a creative positive result- Cuban Centre of ITI companies, and in general, the world of dance oriented dialogue and forces like UNESCO and ITI in Cuba, for the support and willingness to work that bring hope. It needs everybody to make this It is a great honour for the Cuban Centre of ITI to so that the Gala and the celebrations associated world a better world. You. Me. We all together. be able to organize, on this occasion, in Havana, with the International Dance Day can be carried Let´s work on building bridges for the benefit Cuba: The Gala Event for the International Dance out according to the highest standards. of everybody, for the respect of each other, for Day. For the first time this celebration on a world mutual understanding and peace. scale, so awaited by lovers of dance, is celebrated Dance is an essential part of the culture of this among us, which is undoubtedly a great country, perhaps, together with music, its most We would like to thank all institutions that made recognition for choreographers, dancers and universal expression, therefore, to celebrate this event possible: The Ministry of Culture of Cuba, critics of our country, and in turn, of the Americas. this day here is a cultural fest of the greatest the Cuban Centre of ITI, the National Commission significance. of UNESCO, the UNESCO Ambassador in Paris, For our Centre, it is a great privilege to receive so the Sponsor SHANG Xuefeng President of Beijing many personalities and so many friends, so that Let‘s celebrate the Day of Dance. Let the bodies Lv Dong Wu Xian Culture & Communication together, we can celebrate a day like this and send speak, let the culture come down to the feet and from China, the Executive Council and the messages of love for Dance to the world that will touch the land of Cuba and the world. General Secretariat of ITI – and all the individuals be heard by all. Of course, we would like to thank connected with it. those who have collaborated and supported us Carlos Celdrán to be the scene of this unique celebration. President Cuban Centre of ITI

4 5 Welcome Address by the President of the Message for International Dance Day National Council of Performing Arts in Cuba Gala by Alicia Alonso

The meeting that we celebrate today in Havana, brings together the enthusiasm and creative impulse of personalities from all over the world, for the glory of dance, an expression that has its roots in tradition, expands throughout the ages and transits through a wide diversity of creative paths.

We should also add the coincidence of anniversaries, which this year 2018 brings us to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the emergence of ITI, and also the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National Ballet of Cuba.

May the coincidental celebrations, of profound I remember a Cuban folk tale, in which two friends significance for all, mark the consolidation and Dear friends: defend a world of peace and hope for all the inha- argue and one of them repeats in a resolute way: development of new paths of collaboration, to bitants of the planet. „Yes Sir, the Cuban people are a dancing people!“ the glory of performing arts throughout the Cuba is a country that dances. Our people, a mix- How much truth that affirmation contains. world. ture of Africans and Spanish, express themselves When asked why he dances, Ramiro Guerra, the Because dance has been, is and will be, for the through the movement of men and women’s bo- founder of the Cuban modern dance style, res- Cuban people, a natural and spontaneous dies, endowed with intelligence, full of sensuality ponded: expression that springs from the depths of their Alicia Alonso and a love for life. “To communicate to our age the concerns and spirit and their bodily reality. Ambassador of Good Will of UNESCO changing ways of living for man, in search of World Dance Ambassador From early ages, boys and girls with a passion for achieving perfection, both spiritual and material.” This is why we managed to consolidate a scenic dance begin a long journey through the coun- We appreciate the possibility to host the celebra- dance movement that occupies an exceptional try’s art schools, learning ballet, modern dance, tions of International Dance Day in order to show place in our national culture and reaches an folk, and contemporary techniques, which train to the world the fruits of the artistic education undeniable recognition on a world scale. them to be highly professional performers, who- system in Cuba as well as the creativity of our se extraordinary skills are recognised in the most dancers and choreographers. This explains the special importance that it has demanding arenas. for us that the International Theatre Institute (ITI), On behalf of all Cubans, thank you very much. with the decisive support of UNESCO, has chosen Dance is an expression of the spirituality of our the Cuban capital this year to celebrate its central country. In the globalised context of the 21st Rafel Perez-Malo act for the International Dance Day, a celebration century, it defines us as a nation, and integrates Interim President that for years has exalted all those who live and us with the wider global currents which strive to National Council of the Performing Arts of Cuba fight for this expression of art and life.

6 7 International Dance Day UNESCOUNESCO and ITIand ITI International Theatre Institute ITI In 1982 the Dance Committee of ITI founded It was due to the dedication and initiative of International Dance Day to be celebrated every Sir Julian Huxley, the first Director General of year on the 29th April, the birthday of Jean- UNESCO, that the International Theatre Institute Georges Noverre (1727-1810), creator of modern ITI was created in 1948. In fact, ITI was the very ballet. The intention of the International Dance first NGO to be created by UNESCO. Day Message is to celebrate dance, revel in the Since the beginning UNESCO and ITI have worked universality of this art form, cross all political, together closely, and the two organizations cultural and ethnic barriers, and bring people continue to be strongly connected. The goals of together with a common language - dance. UNESCO in the fields of science, education and Every year a message from an outstanding culture are heralded not only in the ITI Charter choreographer or dancer is circulated throughout but in the projects and activities of ITI on a local the world. The author of the message is selected (national) and global level. An ethical outlook, by the International Dance Committee of ITI based on having respect for one another – and the Executive Council of ITI. The message regardless of gender, age, religious belief and is translated into numerous languages and ethnicity – are the guidelines of UNESCO that ITI circulated globally. follows most ardently. In 2015, UNESCO and ITI started a joint project called the ITI/UNESCO Network for Higher Education in the Performing Arts. Since its inauguration, different activities involving its International Theatre members and cooperating groups have been Institute ITI undertaken, such as student festivals and the creation of a global directory performing arts Founded in 1948 on a UNESCO initiative, the Lorem lutpat non, lacinia id, urna. Donec erat lobortis eros, a porta tellus eros quis quam. educational institutions. International Theatre Institute ‘s mission is mattis ornare nibh. Integer sed eros. Praesent Quisque quis nisl. Donec blandit. For 2021, the first ITI/UNESCO World Performing to promote peace, cooperation and mutual ullamcorper, elit vel convallis sodales, pede massa Arts Capital is scheduled which follows UNESCO understanding through the arts, to encourage imperdiet tortor, convallis iaculis elit tellus sed nec quis dui. Sed vitae mauris. Donec faucibus and ITI’s shared goals and is intended to give the practice of performing arts around the augue. Donec sed wisi. erat eget odio.World Integer sodales. Dance Mauris molestieAlliance access to the performing arts and its education world and to strengthen international exchanges dui vel est. Sed bibendum tempor lacus. Nam to everybody. between artists. The ITI has become the world ‘s Fusce eget mi. Nam neque. Ut pellentesque, libero rhoncus. ProinThe sitWorld amet Dancenibh. IntegerAlliance lorem (WDA) is an ITI is a strong supporter of UNESCO and largest organization for the performing arts with vel tincidunt dictum, diam turpis tincidunt nunc, nulla, mattisindependent, eu, accumsan non-profit a, vestibulum cultural ut, wisi.organization. Its appreciates the long-term strong support that about 100 centres and cooperating members a convallis wisi ante nec mauris. Cras metuue dui. Vivamus euismodmission islorem. to serve Maecenas as a global egeroinvoice for dance and UNESCO has granted to ITI. around the world. InternationalFusce a velit. Pellentesque Dance sodales faucibus ligula. quam lorem,dance accumsan professionals. ac, suscipit It encourages vitae, varius the exchange In mattis tellus eu tellus. Vivamus varius massa in in, ligula. Pellentesqueof ideas and habitant hopes morbito raise tristique the awareness of Since its inception, one of the major features Committeeenim. Curabitur IDC tempor, of arcu ITI in sodales aliquam, senectus et dancenetus etin malesuadaall its forms. fames WDA ac has turpis an overarching of the ITI has been to break down barriers that lectus dolor egestas velit, ut pharetra felis quam a egestas. Nullaglobal tristique executive auctor massa.that operates through its seemed insurmountable, by promoting the The Internationalmassa. LoremDance ipsumCommittee dolor sit seeks amet, toconsectetuer regional centres. WDA is the main dance partner rapprochement of cultures and encounters develop theadipiscing study and elit.practice Aliquam of dance, pulvinar, through wisi quis blandit organization for the International Theatre between artists. activities suchvarius, as thelectus patronage velit tincidunt of international ligula, eget ornare Institute ITI, and as such closely collaborates with festivals, themi organization felis et ante. of Cum workshops sociis natoque for young penatibus et ITI and its Dance Committee (for instance in the International Dance Day (29 April) and World professionals,magnis and disevents parturient in connection montes, nascetur with ridiculus selection of the message authors for International Theatre Day (27 March) have both been created Internationalmus. Dance Sed Day non - particularly leo ac nibh the releaseinterdum sagittis. Dance Day). to celebrate the richness and diversity of theatre of the InternationalAenean iaculis,Message. nulla The a Internationalsemper tristique, tellus and dance. Theatre Institute and the International Dance Committee collaborate with the World Dance Alliance and other dance organizations, both on 8 national and international levels. 9 Message Authors of International Dance Day

2018 Salia Sanou, Burkina Faso 1998 Kazuo OHNO, Japan Georgette Gebara, Lebanon 1997 Maurice BEJART, France Willy TSAO, Hong Kong, China 1996 Maya PLISSETSKAYA, Russia Ohad NAHARIN, Israel 1995 Murray LOUIS, USA Marianela BOAN, Cuba 1994 Dai AILIAN, China and Trinidad 2017 Trisha BROWN, USA 1993 Maguy MARIN, France 2016 Lemi PONIFASIO, Samoa and New Zealand 1992 Germaine ACOGNY, Benin and Senegal 2015 Israel GALVAN, Spain 1991 Hans VAN MANEN, The Netherlands 2014 Mourad MERZOUKI, France 1990 Merce CUNNINGHAM, USA 2013 LIN Hwai-min, Chinese Taipei 1989 Doris LAINE, Finland 2012 Sidi Larbi CHERKAOUI, Belgium 1988 Robin HOWARD, United Kingdom 2011 Anne Teresa DE KEERSMAEKER, Belgium 1987 Dance Committee Board 2010 Julio BOCCA, Argentina 1986 Chetna JALAN, India 2009 Akram KHAN, United Kingdom 1985 Robert JOFFREY, USA 2008 Gladys AGULHAS, South Africa 1984 Yuri GRIGOROVITCH, Russia 2007 Sasha WALTZ, Germany 1983 No message issued 2006 King Norodom SIHAMONI, Cambodia 1982 Henrik NEUBAUER, Slovenia 2005 Miyako YOSHIDA, Japan 2004 Stephen PAGE, Australia 2003 Mats EK, Sweden 2002 Katherine DUNHAM, USA 2001 William FORSYTHE, USA 2000 Alicia ALONSO, Cuba; Jirí KYLIÁN, Czech Republic; Cyrielle LESUEUR, France 1999 Mahmoud REDA, Egypt

10 11 Message Authors 2018 – Africa Message International Dance Day 2018 Salia SANOU, Burkina Faso by Salia SANOU

refugee camps in Burkina Faso and Burundi. In Dance, or sense of the future. strength, drive and energy to get in the wake of life. 2018, with the creation cycle entitled Multiple-s, How to deliver this message directly to the community This experience of strangeness, where I felt in my flesh he invited the author Nancy Huston, the of humans without having a thought for all these migrant the deep bleeding of fear, misery, unworthiness, gave bodies, forced into exodus and exile around the world? me a courage and a difficult force still to be defined choreographer Germaine Acogny and the As a choreographer and dancer, having travelled all today. This interzone where nothing human, logical, musician David Babin to join him on set for three continents to present my work and have enriching or ethical is taken into account anymore, this space face-to-face performances. experiences in contact with others, can I look away outside the common law, in the confines of nowhere, from the chaos that shakes the world, and in particular, where vacillation, absurdity, and incessant violence are With Seydou Boro, he continues to create and the migratory peril? No. I look at it and see its darkness, rife; when living there my fear became the maxim of direct the biennial Dialogues de Corpsin in its brutality, but also its opportunities; the opportunities my courage, yes I admit it, this hitherto unknown state Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and La Termitière, that contemporary dance has allowed me to discover in gave me the will to reconquer, with dance, a little future a choreographic development centre opened in order to be part of an epoch. and a snatch of present, surely uncertain but starred with hope. 2006. The question of migration summons, beyond its political connections, the question of the self-gaze Yes, I express it loudly, dance can invent and reinvent on the other. A look fed by imagination that drains a itself, here, now, and elsewhere! Yes, the movement biased, condescending, stereotyped idea from abroad, sometimes has its flashes, its harmonies in unusual that is to say, an intrusive body of the social fabric. places as in a refugee camp, a whole story that can, Salia Sanou, born 1969 in Burkina Faso, attended However, whether we like it or not, whether we gestures against gestures, body against body, spectres drama and African dance classes before joining recognize it or not, we all share, whatever the colour against spectres start to dance. Dance to deceive Mathilde Monnier‘s dance company in Montpelier of our skin, whatever our origins, wherever we live, a loneliness, waiting, pain, dance to give light to a look, in 1993. Since then he has led projects in France common base: humanity. It is this paradigm that guides dance to ward off fear, dance and dance again. and Africa. He founded the company „Salia nï and nourishes my creative process. Seydou“ with Seydou Boro in 1995. Winners of the This unique experience has shaped an unprecedented Second Choreographic Encounters of Africa and If in my work as a choreographer the question of approach to movement in my choreographic work, it the Indian Ocean, they receive the Découverte boundaries, territories, cultures, and the evidence of has revealed new perceptions to me, it has undoubtedly the humanities, is always present or even recurrent in guided me to the essentials of knowing that dance is a RFI Danse prize in 1998. a proven or more diffuse way, it is invariably because I major art, that it conceals a universal knowledge that maintain a curious relationship to time, to spaces, to has survived all the time, it is a reflection of cultures From 2003 to 2008, Salia Sanou was an associate displacements, based upon sensitive and sometimes and traditions that are as rich and varied as the many artist at the National Scene of Saint-Brieuc, before fragile relations constituted, then undoubtedly tested, lines of union between peoples. It is a source of being in residence at the National Dance Centre in my double belonging to Africa and Europe. meaning. For me, it is the art of life, of poetry and hope, in Pantin, from 2009 to 2010. With the show „Desire d‘horizon“, whose choreographic it is the courage and the first step in being able to „fight vocabulary as dramaturgy came from my experiences the destiny, to surprise the disaster by the little fear Then, in 2011, he founded the „Mouvements of working in dance workshops with refugees in camps that it makes us sometimes to face the unjust power, in Burkina Faso and Burundi, I tried to transcend the sometimes to insult the drunken victory, to hold on, to Perpétuels“ company in Montpelier. He created images produced, tried to transcend the incredible stand up; this is the example that people need, and the Au-delà des frontières (2012) and Clameur des violence observed in these places, these non-places, light that electrifies them“, a magnificent quote from arènes (2014) for the Montpelier Dance Festival where each tries to live or at least tries to reinvent a Victor Hugo, extracted from Les Misérables, that I and Doubaley ou le miroir in 2013. In 2016, little of oneself. deliver to you in conclusion and in sharing. he created Du Désir d‘horizons, following the Dancing for a living is the message that I come to workshops of dance that he led for 3 years in bring with the firm conviction that an artist must find Thank you.

12 13 Message Authors 2018 – Arab Countries Message International Dance Day 2018 Georgette GEBARA, Lebanon by Georgette GEBARA

in music, song and dance, in Lebanon, from 1974 EAST, WEST: Dance dialogue vast Arab world defined its own style and colours. to 1992. Amman. Sunday, 26 August 1979. King Hussein and The first expression of dance, however, was prayer, and All of this has helped cement Georgette Gebara American-born Queen Nour enter the royal box of the “three religions of the Book”, as we call them, were the Palace of Culture. Ovation. Jordanian anthem, born on our shores. The movements and gestures of as a household name in the dance world. She is American anthem. prayer are thus considered a form of spiritual dance. seen as an innovator for dance in the Arab region Silence. Their origins may travel back farther than we can trace, and is a key reason for the enduring popularity of The curtain opens, to reveal royalty of another nature: but they are certainly the purest, oldest and most the art form in that part of the world. Examples of a petite woman standing very tall in her sequined dress mysterious expressions of the human body. her desire to raise the profile of dance in the Arab and long black gloves, an ancient-looking throne by her A small wink is due here to pharaonic dances, to fathom world are numberless. For instance, she founded, side. She bows, smoothes herself onto the throne. the age of dance in our region. They were PAINTED in and went on to choreograph for, the “Soirees de MARTHA GRAHAM angular style, but most certainly the actual movements Ballets”, the first professional dance company In a half whisper, she speaks about her company, themselves must have been as fluent and stupendous her ballets. When she comes to the body, the King as the waters of the Nile. to be based in Lebanon, in 1966. Just two years before her, a fine sportsman, listens with warmth and With the advent of modern times and the arrival of later, her desire to spread her inventive approach understanding. Her words carry me to my own beliefs: foreign residents, classical ballet and contemporary across the Arab Region was realised when she to me, our body is a temple. In it life begins; in it is the dance studios opened, and the practice of dance became a founder member of the International soul; in it the heart, that muscle that pumps love; its moved to more specialized levels. From simple rural Georgette Gebara is a world-renowned dancer, Centre of Traditional Music and Dance, based brain is the power of thought; good and evil struggle celebrations or occasional sophisticated urban social choreographer, writer, broadcaster and educator in Carthage (Tunisia), in 1968. She is also a co- within its depths. The body brings movement, essence entertainment, it rose to professionalism and entered from Lebanon. As a student, she showed early founder of the Syndicate of Professional Artists, of life, to its most sublime form of expression: DANCE. the theatre. promise when dancing, and landed many leading Lebanon, formed in 1993. My attention returns to Martha. As though she had But, back to Jordan. Defying the war still raging in lived all her life in our part of the world, she speaks of Lebanon, I risked persuading 10 students to travel with roles in classical ballets. She used her experience More recently she has turned her attention to the sands that come and go, covering up the traces of me to Amman to see the Martha Graham Company, but in education to set up the “École Libanaise de writing and dance journalism. She has authored invaders. “THE VOICE OF THE LAND DICTATES WHO more particularly for the privilege of seeking a master Ballet”, a ballet focussed dance school, in Beirut, articles on Lebanese Theatre for German and REMAINS” she declares. class. Company dancer Peter Sparling conducted 1964. Japanese publications and was twice named Oh yes Martha! we have been here for perhaps more it with enthusiasm, and the experience was great. Keeping with education, she has since gone ‘Dance Critic of the Year’ by the Daily Star. In than humanity remembers. The sands of our deserts, Applause, big smiles, hearty hugs, and of course, as the on to act as Professor of dance at the National November 2017 she published her first book, the waves of our seas have given our women the head of the group, I said a few words to thank Peter. He Institute of Fine Arts (Dramatic Arts Section) of entitled, “Entre Deux Pas”. graceful and seductive sway of hips which has travelled looked at us in utter surprise. “YOU are thanking ME? the Lebanese University (1966 to 1984) and has Over the years she has been a stalwart for ITI, to the farthest confines of Spain. It is said a poet once It is I who should thank YOU. Here we came, I from the exclaimed: “Fa la haramouna Allah menkom” – “May U.S., you from Lebanon, from Jordan and elsewhere. lectured all over the world. seeking to use it as a platform to raise the profile of God not deprive us of you”, which, once the guttural We sat on the floor, and suddenly we were all speaking As a choreographer, Georgette has worked for Lebanese and pan-Arabic dance across the globe. difficulties of the “h” was dropped became “falamenko” the same language”. plays, musicals, TV and Film in Arabic, American, From 1980-2008 she served as a key member, and to finally be “flamenco”. A true tale? It does not matter, Indeed, whether we sit on the floor, hang on to a barre, French and Armenian productions. For television, later Vice-President, of the Lebanese Centre of ITI. it may just be a beautiful lie! …. And are not poetry and fly in the air, stamp our boots on some mountain peak, she choreographed and danced on a special During this time, she also worked as the secretary dance two magnificent lies? yet lies that reflect the whether we wave our hips lasciviously under a tent or in programme of recitations of Arabic Poems for of the International Dance Committee of the ITI, DEPTH of human feeling. a nightclub, our language binds us together! For dance Jordanian TV, which was the first programme from 1996 to 2008, and served as a member of the Whereas desert and sea gave us undulating movement, is not only an expression of feelings, a celebration, of its kind when it broadcast in 1978. She has organization’s Executive Council from 1997-2008. high mountains and revolt against invaders gave birth or just entertainment. DANCE IS A STATEMENT. A to vigorous male stamping of feet and jumps in rhythms statement that says more eloquently than any spoken since gone on to do further TV work as a jury In 2011, her contributions to ITI, and to the wider wild as tempest air. Sword dances and equestrian language, that we are ONE. member for “Studio Al Fan”, the Number One world of the performing arts, were recognised, choreography accompany them. Each region over this TV-programme for the discovery of new talents when she was made an Honorary Member of ITI.

14 15 Message Authors 2018 – Asia Pacific Message International Dance Day 2018 Willy TSAO, Hong Kong, China by Willy TSAO

group in 1998 and was invited by the Guangdong Dear friends of the international dance community, Hence, with a growing connection with international Cultural Bureau in 2004 to resume his position The world seems to be in constant dissidence and communities and stronger mutual contemporary dance until 2016. In Beijing, Tsao had served the Beijing troubles. We have witnessed, especially in recent exchanges, I am confident that China will accelerate years, incessant conflicts between countries, races to become a significant force for advocating individual Modern Dance Company as artistic director from and cultures. As a dance practitioner, I can’t help but viewpoints, championing innovative changes, and 1999 to 2005. In 2005, Tsao established China’s wonder if art may somehow become an antidote to fostering tolerance and understanding among nations first independent professional modern dance prevent or counteract some of the disorders that are in this troubled world. company, BeijingDance/LDTX. In addition, Tsao threatening world peace and harmony. gives lectures and workshops frequently for Thank you. universities and dance groups in major Chinese I have been promoting the art of dance in China since cities, including Beijing, Changsha, Daqing, late 1980s, trying to convince the general public that Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Hefei, Hohhot, dance, especially contemporary dance, is important for a country’s development. I believe that the three Kunming, Nanchang, Nanning, Shanghai, Taiyuan, essential aspects that characterize contemporary Urumqi, Wuhan and Xiamen. dance - individual expressions, innovative ideas and Tsao’s contribution to dance has been widely study of human conditions, serve as the fundamental recognized. He has also received numerous building blocks of a value system upon which modern awards and honours including; Dancer of the China will continue to grow and flourish. Willy Tsao is an influential figure in China’s Year Award from the Hong Kong Artists’ Guild in modern dance development as a choreographer, 1988, Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in In the pursuit of excellence in contemporary dance, educator, curator, manager and director. Born 1990, Badge of Honor from HRH Queen Elizabeth we value individual expressions; therefore, we learn to respect different opinions and diversity. We value and educated in Hong Kong, Tsao received his II in 1993, Louis Cartier Award of Excellence – the search of innovative ideas; therefore, we accept modern dance training in the US and an MBA Outstanding Choreographer in 1998. In 1999, changes and are willing to adapt to new ways of degree from the University of Hong Kong. He he was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star by living. We value the need for understanding current was named an Honorary Fellow by the Hong the Hong Kong SAR Government. He received happenings and issues as a way to study human Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2000 and Distinguished Achievement Award in the 2014 existence; therefore, we become more tolerant and received an Honorary Doctorate in 2015. Hong Kong Dance Awards for his immense and understanding while we are face-to-face with each As a contemporary dance pioneer in Mainland invaluable achievement and contribution to other regardless of any differences. China and Hong Kong, Tsao founded the first and Hong Kong dance. China, similar to most of the countries in the Asia- only professional contemporary dance company Since 1980, Tsao has created more than 60 Pacific region, enjoys a rich cultural heritage. However, CCDC in Hong Kong in 1979 and has held the role major works, including Bird Songs, Kunlun, the country had been sealed off from the rest of the of artistic director since 1989. In Mainland China, China Wind-China Fire, 365 Ways of Doing and world for decades and has only opened up through Tsao was a teacher and advisor to the Modern Undoing Orientalism, Wandering in the Cosmos, its reformation and open policy in 1978, exactly 40 Dance Programme at the Guangdong Dance One Table N Chairs, Sexing Three Millennia, years ago. Indeed, there is still a long way to go before School from 1987 to 1992 and was named artistic Dao: Extraodinaire, Conqueror, Warrior Lanling the general public in China can comprehend and director of China’s first professional modern dance and In Search of the Grand View Garden. His appreciate in greater depth the value of contemporary company, Guangdong Modern Dance Company, choreography has been staged in Canada, dance. On the other hand, I am seeing the emergence of a phenomenon which suggests that young people when it was founded by the Guangdong France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, the US as in China are interested in the contemporary dance art Provincial Government in 1992. He departed the well as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Taipei. form and are using it as a medium of self -expression.

16 17 Message Authors 2018 – Europe Message International Dance Day 2018 Ohad NAHARIN, Israel by Ohad NAHARIN

division, Batsheva – the Young Ensemble. He Dancing is about being in the moment. It’s about has since created over thirty works for both listening to the scope of sensations and allowing that companies and set pieces on many others. He listening to become the fuel of all feelings, forms, and content. Yet, we should always remember where we has also collaborated with musicians including came from. The Tractor’s Revenge, Avi Balleli and Dan Makov,

Ivri Lider, and Grischa Lichtenberger. Under When asked what my work is about, I first answer the pseudonym Maxim Waratt, he composed, that it is about itself. About how all of its elements edited, and mixed many of his own soundtracks. meet to create its narrative. A dance narrative of Naharin’s work has been featured in several films, volume, delicacy, the use of explosive power. The including Tomer Heymann’s Out of Focus (2007) research of movement, organization and structure. and the Heymann Brothers’ Mr. Gaga (2015). Laughing at ourselves, dynamics, overstatement and understatement, the connection of pleasure and effort, and the sublimation of each dancer’s madness, In addition to his stagework, Naharin also passion, and fantasy into a clear form. developed GAGA, the innovative movement research and daily training of Batsheva’s dancers At its best, dance can be sublime, even if far from that has spread internationally among both perfect. We need to resist the conservative and Ohad Naharin is a choreographer, the Artistic dancers and non-dancers. conventional thinking that has roots in much of dance Director of Batsheva Dance Company, and creator education and training, and let go of old ideas for new, of the GAGA movement language. A citizen of both Israel and the United States, better ones. And we must always remember to dance a little every day... Naharin currently lives in Israel with his wife, Born in 1952 in Mizra, Israel, he joined Batsheva dancer and costume designer Eri Nakamura, and

Dance Company in 1974 despite having little their daughter, Noga. And we must always remember to dance a little every training. During his first year, guest choreographer day... and never in front of a mirror. Martha Graham invited him to join her own company in New York, where Naharin later made his choreographic debut at the Kazuko Hirabayshi studio in 1980. For the next decade he presented works in New York and abroad, including pieces for Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Nederlands Dans Theater. Naharin worked closely with his first wife, Mari Kajiwara, until she died from cancer in 2001.

In 1990, Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company, and in the same year, he established the company’s junior

18 19 Message Authors 2018 – The Americas Message International Dance Day 2018 Marianela BOAN, Cuba by Marianela BOAN

The Encounter of Women of Latin America in the Your body begins before you and is the place of all the Performing Arts, 2014, paid homage to her life rituals that belong to you. and professional work by awarding her the Glo When you listen to your body through dance, you prize. also hear the bodies and dances of seduction and celebration which belong to your ancestors and your She obtained a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in species. Dance at Temple University, Philadelphia, where she served as a teacher. She has also been the In your body you carry the dances that will save you. head of the Higher Institute of Arts Cuba (ISA) The one who dances touches the other beyond the and has contributed to the education of several skin; dance touches their weight and smell, it defeats generations of Cuban and Latin American the tactile screens and it erases the borders between bodies and nations. dancers. Between 2002 and 2010, she maintained an I have lived on both sides of history. I have seen poverty intense work-rate in the USA for companies and and wealth, landscapes and bodies fed and abused by institutions such as Dance Theater Workshop, power. My work excavates, looking for the real bodies American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, among those officially on display. Marianela Boán is an internationally recognized New York University, Joyce SoHo, La MaMA, etc. choreographer and one of the most important Being a choreographer in Cuba and the Dominican artists of the Cuban and Latin American dance Marianela Boán currently lives in Santo Domingo, Republic, the magical islands where I live, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and people dancing before birth, vanguard. Her revolutionary style „Dance Dominican Republic, where she founded and is an unmentionable privilege. Polluted“ radically mixes all the arts associated currently directs the National Company of

with dance, producing an expressive and original Contemporary Dance of the Ministry of Culture, Dancing is the great antidote to the madness of scenic result. As a choreographer, dancer and which has met with great success in Cuba, mankind. teacher, Boán has worked in more than 40 Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Peru and USA. countries presenting her works and giving Her most recent works are „Sed“ (2011), „Caribe To each displaced person, refugee and exile from workshops in numerous venues and festivals in Deluxe“ (2013), “Propulsion” (2015) and “Defilló” around the world, I say: you have a country that goes Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. She has (2017). with you that nothing and no one can take away; the country of your body. created nearly 70 choreographic works for dance, theatre, TV and film companies.

She has won important choreographic awards as a member of Danza Contemporánea de Cuba from 1973 to 1988 and as the founding director of the companies DanzAbierta, Cuba, 1988- 2003, BoanDanz Action USA, 2005-2010 and the Compañía Nacional de Danza Contemporánea of the Dominican Republic, since 2010 until now.

20 21 Performances Performances Twelve Coil

Twelve Danza from piece ‘36’ created in 2011 for the Edge Dance Company: Danza Contemporánea de Cuba with full confidence in what is believed and what Dance Company: Acosta Danza Company and presented in 2012 at the Royal Choreography: Julio Cesar Iglesias is done. Never pain, only faith. Concept and Direction: Jorge Crecis Opera House in London. Choreography assistant: Tomas Guilarte Choreography Assistant: Fernando Balsera Music: Hangedup / Arron Family / Nina Simone / Music: Vincenzo Lamagna Dancers: Fordom / Monoloc / Wardruna Costume Design: Eva Escribano Zeleidy Crespo, Yanelis Godoy, Laura Rodríguez, Light design: Fernando Alonso Lighting Design: Michael Mannion, Warren Leticia Silva, Laura Treto, Carlos Luis Blanco, Yasser Costume design: Julio Cesar Iglesias Letton and Pedro Benítez Domínguez, Mario Sergio Elías, Julio León, Raúl Reinoso, Javier Rojas y Alejandro Silva. Interpreters: Arelys Hernández / Alejandro Twelve is a dance-sport piece, a universe Miñoso / Claudia H. Rodríguez / Dayron Romero regulated by complex mathematical and graphic / Emma Quiñones / Heriberto Meneses / José permutations, a real risk that tests the physical A. Elías / Leyna González / Mario Varela / Idian and mental resistance of 12 dancers who have to Rodríguez / Norge Cedeño / Maikel Pons / do the impossible to achieve the impossible. Penélope Morejón / Stephanie Hardy / Thais Suárez / Víctor Varela Twelve is a combination of logic, aesthetics and emotion, a puzzle that plays with the concepts of Rituals, infinite paths, incessant searches in life, success and failure, risk and pragmatism and that exploring the social construction of the human explores the limits of the human body. Twelve being and the deep meaning of spirituality. A has been an exclusive re-creation for Acosta spirit that is built with sacrifice, with pleasure,

22 23 Performances Performances Ella y él… siempre DAHOMEÑÓ

Dance Company: Lizt Alonso Dance Cuba Dance Company: Folklorico Nacional de Cuba Title: Latido VIII. Ella y el… Siempre Original script and choreography – Manolo Micler Choreographer: Lizt Alonso Music: Cesar Lopez A folkloric projection of chants, drum playing, Duration: 5 minutes 38 seconds. and dance extracted from the traditions of the Dahomey peoples, which depicts the transition Synopsis: Time, as it exists in our dimension, marks to puberty, and in so doing evokes old rituals of a pattern that is the thread - or umbilical cord - fertility. between what is now and what is no longer. However, we are always looking to the future, despite the fact we will never hold certainty that it will exist for any of us. Out of the desire to get out from this jumble of feelings and emotions, and scream that there is ‘no time to lose’ - because it is always the right and precise moment to move forward - this heartbeat is born.

24 25 Performances Sponsor: Beijing Lv Dong Wu Xian Don Quixote (Suite) Culture & Communication Co

Dance Company: Ballet Nacional de Cuba Direction: Giovanni Duarte Lv Dong Wu Xian is a Chinese word meaning “infinite Choreography: Alicia Alonso (Artistic direction rhythm”. and choreography), Marta García and María Elena The Don Quixote ballet was released on Llorente. An adaptation of the original version by December 26, 1869 at the Bolshoi Theatre in A Company focuses on the development and Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorski. Moscow, inspired by a famous chapter of the producing of film and TV projects, educating Music: Ludwig Minkus eponymous and well-known work of Miguel de talents for the film and TV industry, promoting the Scenography: Frank Alvarez Cervantes. The Cuban version was presented for cultural exchange between China and the world, Costumes: Salvador Fernandez first time on July 6, 1988 at the Gran Teatro de offering consultations on the culture industry and Cast: Kitri, the beautiful: Viengsay Valdes, Basilio, la Habana. The first act of this ballet, represents the culture projects incubating. Beijing Lv Dong the barber of the town: Patricio Reve, Espada: Ariel the scene in which the bullfighters arrive at the Wu Xian Culture & Communication also has a Martinez, Mercedes, his lover: Ginett Moncho, plaza of a village in Castile; the Andalusian Espada training centre at the Central Academy of Drama, Bullfighters: Daniel Rittoles, Yankiel Vazquez, Luis enters, accompanied by his lover Mercedes. The Beijing, offering training on the performing Fernandez, Juan Oquendo and Adrian Sanchez, dance of the young couple excites the whole arts for professionals, children and those who Majas: Monica Viqueiras, Wendy Castell, Jessica town. The third act includes the famous grand will participate in the entrance examination of Arechavaleta, Verena Garcia, Cynthia Villalonga pas de deux, in which Kitri (Quiteria) and Basilio, performing arts academies in China. and Lorena Urgelles the protagonists, dance on the day of their wedding. Musical Accompaniment: Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatro de La Habana «Alicia Alonso»

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